Photo: Williams Racing
Luke Browning will make another Formula 1 free practice appearance with Williams in Bahrain this week.
The Formula 2 racer will take over Carlos Sainz’s car in Friday’s opening session at Sakhir, having made his F1 practice debut with Williams in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year.
Last weekend he drove the team’s FW45 car from 2023 at Monza alongside fellow F2 racer Victor Martins, who recently joined the Williams academy following his departure from Alpine.
“Being given another opportunity to drive in a free practice session with Williams is a dream come true, and I’m getting more and more confidence each time I drive the car,” Browning said.
“My main aim for FP1 is to get more comfortable with the procedures and environment that come with F1, and to build on my experience from Abu Dhabi last December.
“I’m excited to feel the progression from the FW46 to the FW47 and I feel incredibly grateful to James [Vowles], Sven [Smeets] and the team at Grove for entrusting me with the car.
“A lot of preparation has gone into this weekend, so thank you to everyone in the Driver Academy for supporting my development so far.”
The number of opportunities F1 teams are required to give to rookie drivers in practice sessions has been doubled for 2025, with each one of a team’s two cars having to be driven by a rookie on two occasions during the year.
“Luke has made strong progress since his first F2 weekend last year and scored good points in the opening race of the season in Australia,” said Williams sporting director Smeets.
“His previous FP1 experience, participation in our TPC [testing of previous cars] programme, and simulator work have prepared him well for this weekend and we look forward to seeing him take this next step forward in his development.”
With F1’s regular drivers having already completed three days of pre-season testing around Sakhir, the Bahrain event is being seen as a good opportunity to run rookies.
Ferrari has already announced that it will give Browning’s Hitech F2 team-mate Dino Beganovic his debut FP1 running, while Mercedes, Aston Martin and Haas will field reserve drivers Frederik Vesti, Felipe Drugovich and Ryo Hirakawa respectively.